Outside the main basketball court, Kei could be seen with his sports bag over his shoulder. He had a jacket over him to help him prevent catching a cold. Since it was nearing the later stages of autumn, the temperatures have started dropping.
"Ugh… Really should have brought a thicker jacket…"
When Kei looked at his watch, it was already 9.30 p.m. In order to allow more students, parents, and spectators to come watch the game, the tournament organizers had made the games from the semi-finals to finals to be played at night. Kei wondered where he should go eat at this time since there was no way he was going to cook at home at this time. He also had the luxury of staying out late since he lived alone and the next boy's game would be 3 days away to allow for rest from the qualifying rounds.
"I guess I'll just look for some ramen…?"
When Kei was beginning to walk out of the arena, he felt a soft hood over his head. He turned around to find Shiki-sensei standing there.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Sensei? What are you doing here?"
Shiki-sensei proceeded to show Kei the screen of her phone. There, he could see a Line chat conversation between Shiki-sensei and Yanagi-sensei.
'Can you go to the basketball stadium?'
'What? Why?'
'Amane-kun is going to do something stupid again.'
'Why can't you go?'
'I'm bringing the boys team out for a celebration meal.'
'You got out of the qualifiers, not win the championship.'
'All the same. Anyways, please? Thanks.'
'I didn't say yes!'
-BLOCKED-
It had seemed that Yanagi-sensei pushed this load onto Shiki-sensei against her will. Now that Shiki-sensei put her phone away, Kei felt an ominous aura from her, not entirely sure what it was.
"Well? Should we go eat some ramen?"
"…Fine…"
Kei proceeded to follow her into the car park of the stadium. Although most people take public transport, Shiki-sensei decided to buy a car of her own since she found it troublesome to do so.
"So… where are we going?" Kei said as he got into the car.
"My favourite ramen spot. Don't worry, I eat a lot of ramen!"
"…"
Shiki-sensei opened her phone once more to show him her blog. Looking at it, he saw that Shiki-sensei was not joking. On the blog, he could see that she had a recommendation section as well as 'Top 10 Ramen in Tokyo' and ratings for each shop she visited. She was not that unknown either, looking at the blog, she has over 15,000 followers on her blog. Halfway driving, Shiki-sensei looked over at Kei who was in the passenger seat.
"You can take a nap, you know? It's going to be a long ride."
"Where are you actually taking me?"
"Chiba!"
"That's quite far for a ramen trip!"
"Quit yapping. You don't have school or any games for the next 3 days."
Yanagi-sensei had actually told her that Kei wouldn't be having any games for the next 3 days so she knew she could take him somewhere further for their ramen.
"What's so special about this ramen anyway?"
"Hmm? Fufu. Normal ramen noodles are usually not that soft even if you ask for the hard ones, but this shop we are going to has noodles that are even harder than usual. Their broth is continuously boiling day and night without stop and they keep adding new pork bones after taking the old ones out making it extra thick. The chashu has the perfect balance between meat and fat…" Her eyes were glowing red talking about ramen when Kei looked over.
"Okay, okay, stop please! Come back! I can't die in a car crash!"
As the atmosphere turned quiet and peaceful, Kei couldn't help but doze off. Looking at his sleeping figure, Shiki-sensei couldn't help but give off a small chuckle.
"Well, I'm not surprised you'd be this exhausted. Everyone's chucking responsibilities on you left, right, and center, I'm surprised you haven't broken down yet."
'And now even my kid sister wants to do it to you too… I can only feel bad, but the decision is up to you. I hope you know that.'
***
"Oy, Amane-kun. Oyyyy."
"Ngh…? Where are we?"
When Kei opened his eyes, the car engine had been turned off, the windows had been rolled down slightly. He could hear and smell the salt in the air and could tell that he was near the ocean.
"You wanted to eat ramen, right? Here we are."
When he got out of the car, he stepped on sand as the car had been parked right beside a beach. He looked around and saw a small shack below a cliff and had guessed that it was probably the ramen shack that Shiki-sensei had brought him to. When they entered the premises, he felt a warm and homey aura to the place.
"Ah, Makinohara-san! Hmm? Brought a date?"
"He's my student. How are you doing, Matsuko?"
"Same as always, better business since you put me on your blog! By the way, isn't it a crime to date your students?"
"I'll take you off my blog."
"Sorry…"
When they proceeded to sit down, Kei let Shiki-sensei order for him since she knew what was best. As they were waiting on their order, Kei looked at his phone to see that it was now almost 11 p.m.
"So, why did you decide to walk away earlier?" Shiki-sensei asked out of nowhere.
"Hmm?"
"The girls' game. Shouldn't you have celebrated with them?"
"…"